Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to techniques for processing and archiving electronically stored information (ESI). More particularly, the present inventions relates to a unified context-aware content archive system and related techniques.
Collaboration using a variety of communication mediums, such as e-mail and instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and social networks is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Many users and organizations have transitioned to paperless or all-digital offices, where information and documents are communicated and stored almost exclusively digitally. As a result, users and organizations are also now expended time and money to store and archive increasing volumes digital documents and data.
At the same time, state and federal regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), have become increasingly aggressive in enforcing regulations relate to electronically stored information. Additionally, criminal cases and civil litigation frequently employ use of electronic discovery (eDiscovery) tools, in addition to traditional discovery methods.
Clearly, one problem with the increasing volumes digital documents and data the accumulate is how the data is later accessed and retrieved. As broadband connections to the Internet are common in most homes and business, emails frequently include one or more multi-Megabyte attachments, instant messaging sessions are used to transfer files and pictures, use of social networking applications have exploded, voice/video conferences are routinely held. As users grow accustomed to communicating using a variety of communication mediums, the electrically stored data associated with each different communication medium becomes increasingly of diverse and, if propriety formats are used, later access to the data becomes difficult without the required software. Another problem is that organization-based or regulatory-based disclosure and/or reporting requirements do not simply require that the information be preserved and then disclosed. Often, the disclosure and/or reporting requirements are more directed toward the context of the communication, such as the level of access one or more participants had to sensitive data referred to in the contents of a given electronic communication.
For these reasons, the inventors believe that users and organizations need a unified context-aware content archive to help lower costs managing and disclosing electronically stored information. Accordingly, what is desired is to solve problems relating to storing electronic communications using multiple different communication modalities, some of which may be discussed herein. Additionally, what is desired is to reduce drawbacks relating to searching for contexts between stored electronic communications, some of which may be discussed herein.